JogTunes Interview: Cole Hermer Shares His Views on Music Podcasting

 

Dr. Bob: I’m grateful that Andrew Salmon of Cyber PR invited me to interview Cole Hermer, the lead singer of the outstanding blues/rock/punk/metal band, Cole Hermer and the Ravens. I was pleased to play two of Cole’s tracks on a recent episode of my show. Cole’s unmistakable voice clearly displays his great talent and musicianship and his band is a perfect match to his vocal gift. As a music podcaster I’m interested in artists’ opinions of the music podcasting world. In this interview I asked Cole some pointed questions to learn his views on music podcasting.

Dr. Bob: A brief search on the web quickly revealed your popularity in the music podcasting space. Do you find this exposure to be helpful to your success? If so, how?

Cole: Hey man it’s all about the word of mouth. That’s how rock and roll has always been and I think that’s the best thing about technology today is that you can reach people in new ways and podcasting is a huge part of that. 

Dr. Bob: Many music podcasters are thankful that there are promoters, such as Cyber PR, who make indie artists’ royalty-free tracks available for what they call “podplay.” In what way are these services helpful to you as an artist?

Cole: They get the word out and they bring really good exposure. I think the best thing they do is they take music from all over the place and expose it to people that really love music.

Dr. Bob: Some music podcasts and podcast apps are monetized through advertising and app sales. Usually, the revenue just about covers the podcaster’s costs. Are you comfortable with this arrangement considering they play your tracks for free?

Cole: I think what makes it worth it is the free promotion and also although the podcasters don’t pay for the songs often they will make sure to really  promote you and talk about you to make up for it

Dr. Bob: Some music podcasters just list the artists in their show notes. Other hosts add more content, such as links to the artists’ websites, to the sources of the tracks (like promoters), and to iTunes, Amazon, and other online stores. Do you see these added links as truly beneficial to the artists? If so, does it frustrate you when hosts don’t include them?

Cole: I think having the added links is a huge help because then other podcasters can find out where the songs are and how to get them.

Dr. Bob: I didn’t add any voice-overs while playing your tracks on my show, but, if I had, would you see that as a negative, or as an acceptable aspect of the show’s format?

Cole: Well obviously I would prefer that the song have no voice overs and I’d like to thank you for not putting any over the song but at the same time I don’t get too upset and I understand sometimes podcasters like to have music in the background while they’re talking .  If my music is that background music I guess I can take that as a compliment.

Dr. Bob: Finally, most music podcast hosts introduce the tracks, saying the name of artist and the name of the tune prior to playing them. Would it be acceptable to you if they just played the music and only listed the tune information in the show notes? And, if you like the voice intros, do you prefer some added details about the artist and/or the tune, or just the basic info?

Cole: I really like to hear the intros and I’ve always enjoyed when a show plays a new upcoming band and tells you something about them like where they’re from just to give you an idea on the background of the band.

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Bob Marcus is a retired physician who plays jazz drums and piano and likes to exercise to music. While working out, he noted the motivating effect of matching the tempo of his music with his running pace. As a geek, the logical next steps were to design and develop a website (JogTunes.com), a podcast, and iOS/Android apps dedicated to cadence workouts. It wasn’t long before Dr. Bob found that great indie artists and promotion companies, like Cyber PR, provide a perfect music resource for his podcast, aptly named the JogTunes Indie Podcast. Dr. Bob can be reached at jogtunes@gmail.com.